Battered Schroeder to face risky early elections

A BATTERED Gerhard Schroeder yesterday persuaded parliament to agree to hold risky early elections, almost seven years after he swept to power with promises to revive Germany’s economy.

Now unemployment remains in double digits and growth in Europe's largest economy remains dismal as Germans like other Europeans grapple with how to maintain their comfortable high-wage brand of prosperity.

Those pressures mean Schroeder's gamble could fail: challenger Angela Merkel proposes a more pro-business approach, and polls suggest it's working.